Louisiana statehouse task force considers road-use fees

The struggle for road and bridge dollars in Louisiana was the topic of a recent state legislative task force meeting. A higher road-use fee is one solution offered.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has reported to state lawmakers that Louisiana needs higher road use fees to help address funding shortfalls.

Louisiana has a nearly $15 billion backlog in road and bridge projects, the office reported.

Gina Brown, a performance audit manager with the Legislative Auditor’s Office, told a legislative task force on electric vehicles that the state stands to lose $563.6 million in road-use fees over the next decade.

Multiple recommendations were made to eat into the funding gap.

Alternative-fuel vehicles

One source of additional revenue comes from new fees on alternative-fuel vehicles.

A new Louisiana law set to take effect the first of the year is intended to address supplementing transportation funding via owners of affected vehicles.

The new rule imposes annual road-use fees for electric and hybrid vehicles. Specifically, annual fees of $110 for electric vehicles and $60 for hybrids and plug-in hybrids can be collected.

Brown told the task force the new road-use fees could eat into the shortfall by about $240 million.

She said the estimates are based off the assumption that all affected vehicle owners self-report on state income taxes. She adds that many will not report or pay the voluntary fee.

Higher fees

The auditor’s office recommends that electric vehicle fees increase by $2 annually, fees for hybrid vehicles increase by $6 yearly, and hybrid plug-in vehicle fees increase by $36 annually.

A separate recommendation is to provide additional mechanisms to address losses in fuel taxes due to higher fuel efficiency.

Another recommendation is to do away with the fuel tax and collect a higher road-use fee.

State lawmakers can use the auditor’s report as a guide when crafting transportation funding legislation for consideration during the 2023 regular session. LL